Technology improves every day, continuously expanding consumer demand for increasingly compact electronic devices. This applies in the context of optical imaging lens characteristics, in that key components for optical imaging lenses incorporated into consumer electronic products should keep pace with technological improvements in order to meet the expectations of consumers. Some important characteristics of an optical imaging lens include image quality and size. Improvements in image sensor technology play an important role in maintaining (or improving) consumer expectations related to image quality while making the devices more compact. However, reducing the size of the imaging lens while achieving good optical characteristics presents challenging problems. For example, in a typical optical imaging lens system having six lens elements, the distance from the object side surface of the first lens element to the image plane along the optical axis is too large to accommodate the dimensions of today's cell phones or digital cameras.
Decreasing the dimensions of an optical lens while maintaining good optical performance may not only be achieved by scaling down the lens. Rather, these benefits may be realized by improving other aspects of the design process, such as by varying the material used for the lens, or by adjusting the assembly yield.
In this manner, there is a continuing need for improving the design characteristics of optical lenses that may have increasingly small dimensions. Achieving these advancements may require overcoming unique challenges, even when compared to design improvements for traditional optical lenses. However, refining aspects of the optical lens manufacturing process that result in a lens that meets consumer demand and provides upgrades to imaging quality continues to be a desirable objective for industries, governments, and academia.